Vanna White
Vanna White (born Vanna Marie Rosich on February 18, 1957) is a southern belle from North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and longtime hostess of TV's Wheel of Fortune. Early Career She was a struggling actress during the 1970s and in 1980 was a contestant on The Price is Right but never made it out of Contestants' Row. It seemed like her career was nothing but a dead end, until she learned that producers were holding auditions for the new letter turner on Wheel of Fortune by her friend Janet Jones (aka Mrs. Wayne Gretzky). The letter turning job was formerly occupied by Susan Stafford. On a whim Vanna tried out for that job thinking that she may or may not get it; on her audition, Vanna was a nervous wreck, quivering & shaking, but producer/creator Merv Griffin saw through the nervousness and hired her for the job partnering with current host Pat Sajak. Vanna's first show was on December 13, 1982. Her popularity heightened thanks to the nighttime version and she has stayed with the show ever since. Personal Life *Vanna White survived the devastating losses of her mother Joan Marie Rosich, and then-boyfriend John Gibson. She has been married for 11 years to restaurateur George Santo Pietro. From that marriage, Vanna is the mother of two children Nicholas & Giovanna (named after Vanna & George). Plus when not turning/touching letters on the puzzle board, Vanna is also an expert crocheter, in fact, she owns her own line of yarn called "Vanna's Choice" by Lion Brand Yarn. In the 80s & 90s Vanna was the spokeswoman for Spring Air mattress. And as if crocheting, mattress hocking & letter turning were not enough, Vanna also made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the most frequent clapper on television, averaging 720 claps per show, and clapping more than 28,000 times a season. Another one of Vanna's trademarks on Wheel is her huge wardrobe and many hairstyles over the years. Trivia *Most video game releases based off Wheel have her as host of the show instead of Pat Sajak until the Wii and Nintendo DS versions in 2010 and Wii U, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions in 2012 which both had her and Sajak as host and co-host respectively just like the show itself. She has even played the game herself (for charity) twice. *Vanna has also made guest appearances on several TV shows, and at one time she starred in her own NBC TV movie called Goddess of Love where she played Venus, a Roman goddess of love struggling to survive in modern-day LA. The TV film was a target against critics, but it was loved by viewers who made it one of the most watched that night. *In 1993, Vanna sued Samsung Electronics, claiming her rights were violated after the company used a parody of her in its ads. The company countered, saying their use of the parody of her was protected under the 1st Amendment right to free speech, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Vanna. *Vanna has actually held the hosting position three times. The first time was when she was introducing the then new daytime host of Wheel, Rolf Benirschke. Second time was during a bonus round while Pat had laryngitis and Pat did the letter turning. She will be doing it again starting this December as Pat Sajak recovers from a surgery he had. Show hosted *''Wheel of Fortune'' (1982-present) Show appeared *''The Price is Right'' (1980) Gallery 11376632 882670435160391 1358327450 n.jpg vannaearlyad.jpg vannamodel.jpg vannaletterman.jpg vclose484.jpg vanna85.jpg vanna83.jpg vclose3000th.jpg vcurlyvegas.jpg vannabd96.jpg vanna-board.jpg vfeb2697.jpg vmodelapr3099.jpg vannahaw.jpg v25kmar600.jpg vanna298.jpg vlcsnap-2014-01-03-13h08m53s180.png O-180447921-570.jpg Vanna_infographic_04.png Vanna.gif|That's Vanna White as an NES avatar figure. Vannabig.gif|Here's Vanna White as a NES avatar figure in the 1991 video game ''Wheel of Fortune Starring Vanna White. Vanna_White_WOF_NTE.png Wheel_of_Fortune_Junior_Edition_Vanna_White_Puzzle.png Vanna_with_Present_Attached_to_Dress.png Vanna1.jpg Vanna2.jpg Vanna3.jpg Vanna4.jpg Blue_Dress_Vanna.png Wheel-of-fortune1-ht-ml-191206_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg Shoeless_Vanna.png IMG_0172.PNG|Vanna was a cheerleader in high school and there is a lot of cheering during March Madness here is Vanna with the pom poms 51Tq0li2ABL.jpg|Vanna White with Pat Sajak as Avatar figures from the Wheel of Fortune for the Nintendo Wii. IMG_0176.PNG|Vanna was a cheerleader in high school and there is a lot of cheering during March Madness here are Vanna and Pat Sajak with the pom poms Vannawhite.jpg Links *Her Official Website *Vanna's Bio at the Wheel of Fortune site *Vanna White at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) YouTube Video *Vanna's first introduction Category:Hostesses Category:Contestants Category:Models Category:People Category:1957 Births Category:Wheel of Fortune